World football governing body, FIFA, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) have commenced the screening of candidates to oversee the Normalisation Committee of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

After months of speculations, FIFA, last week, approved the normalisation committee to run Nigerian football. FIFA also set a deadline for the committee’s tenure, stating that its mandate would end once it had completed its assigned tasks, but no later than May 31, 2027.

The normalisation committee will manage the nation’s football pending fresh elections to its executive committee, following months of leadership uncertainty and calls for comprehensive reforms.

There were reports at the weekend that FIFA had chosen one of the leading candidates to lead the committee. But a top NFF official told The Guardian yesterday that the names of the members of the committee would be announced publicly by FIFA after due consultations with relevant bodies.

The Guardian learnt, yesterday, that both FIFA and CAF, in alliance with the NSC, have secretly started screening candidates for the committee.

A source told The Guardian that among those being screened are two candidates for the position of the chairman.

“There are three women among those being screened, but I don’t know the position they are going for,” the source said, adding: “All we know for now is that none of the members of the normalisation committee will be eligible for the positions to be filled during the NFF elections next year.

The two front runners for the position of the chairman are Rivers United chairman, Chris Green and AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

The Guardian recalls that former NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and members of the federation’s Executive Committee resigned en masse on August 27, following a difficult period for Nigerian football, including the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the Super Falcons’ failure to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

The latter ended Nigeria’s record of appearing at every edition of the women’s tournament since its inception at China 1991.